Pancake Panqueque

So... I decided I should write about Santiago again. I'v lived here now for 4 months or so, and I'v been able to see a lot more of the city since my first entry about the city. Basically the city of Santiago is broken up into several different 'comunas' or districts similar to counties in the US. Each one of these comunas have distinct centers of activities, usually based around a plaza or a main road, In my comuna, called Ñuñoa, there's plaza Ñuñoa which is basically where many of the municipal buildings are. Each 'comuna' also is broken up into different neighborhoods, which usually have small shops for food, and otherthings. The comuna of Santiago is the geographic center of the city, and the what's called the old city. This is where you'll find the ... read more

So, the weather is starting to get a lot better here, and because of that and "my" student metro card, I'v began to explore Santiago more. The other day Niki and I took line 5 to Plaza De Armas, and decided to walk to the La Moneda. On our way we discovered a pedestrian only road in the hard of the old city, we followed that for a while, got a little lost and found the Santiago stock exchange. We ended up finding La Moneda and started walking back to U. Chile for class. On the way we saw a really big castle in the center of the city, so we said we would go back to it the next day with good weather and free time. The next tuesday was that day, the weather was ... read more

So I got back form a 10 day long trip to Argentina and Uruguay, In all didn't like Buenos Aires, it was big crowded and dirty with lots of crime. While I was there some girls from my group were jump by a man and women who where trying to rob them. Also the city was more expensive then I had used to in Ecuador and Chile, however the food was really good. I had a different kind of meet every night. I also bought some cuban cigars, still don't like them that much. Also as a comical side note, I went to a McDonalds while in Buenos Aires, my first time in around 4 years or so. Montevideo, Uruguay was a lot smaller and a little cleaner then Buenos Aires, but there wasn't much to ... read more

So, my last night in Cuenca was friday, and I'm already missing the city, and my host family. It's not the bars and discotecas that I'm going to miss, its the people. I only lived here for a month but it really did feel like home, and the people at CEDEI and my host family all felt like family. I'm going to miss my class and our trips to the museums and markets, discussions about andean culture. The other weekend I went to two cities south of Cuenca, Gualaceo and Chordeleg. Gualaceo had a great park that stretched both sides of the river for a really long distance. There were bridges that were totally sketch, but still cool. The central plazas of every city iv been in has been amazing, usually because politicians dump loads of ... read more